Love poems by John Donne will be presented to the class by five pairs of students on Friday February 22. Ten minutes will be devoted to each of these poems:

• The Sun Rising (1552)--Shannon and Courtney
• The Flea (1557)--Emily Stern and Hilary
• The Apparition (1559)--Ashley and Megan
• A Valediction Forbidding Mourning (1559)--Nick and Emily Greenslate

These presentations may form the basis of your paper #2. They should address as many as possible of these questions:

• What are the norms of meter and rhyme scheme that Donne begins with and where and why does he vary them?
• What are noticeable "conceits" or stretched comparison that he uses and with what effect?
• What are the meanings of unusual words and references?
• What tone or mood shifts take place and where?
• Where does Donne use sarcasm and irony and why?
• Is there a dramatic subtext indicating change or action accompanying the text?

Presenters should get together in pairs and read their poem over many times, as if they were preparing a scene from Shakespeare. For research resources, use OED, Bible Browser, links on the class website and Luminarium and confer with the instructor.